The Reveal
by ElleryMelody
Summary: Robin attempts to reveal his identity to Wally, but it doesn't quite go as planned. (Rated T for Language)


**AN: Heya~ This fic takes place in the Young Justice universe, about a year or so before the Team is established and season 1 starts. Please enjoy!**

 **Disclaimer: I don't own these lovely characters (no matter how much I wish I did), nor do I own Young Justice.**

The Reveal

"Hey, Rob, look at how much of this I can fit in my -"

"Dick."

The speedster snorted, nearly choking on his ice cream sandwich. He turned to face his friend, an incredulous look on his face.

"Sorry, what?"

"Dick," the boy repeated softly, seeming not to notice his friend's confused and immensely bewildered stare - his own was locked miles away on the setting sun as he leaned against the railing of the pier.

"Dude what?" Wally tried again, wisely setting down the remainder of his ice cream treat before continuing. "Why are we suddenly talking about dicks?"

That immediately caught Robin's attention. The younger boy's eyebrows shot up from behind his sunglasses, his head whirling to face his friend as a blush of embarrassment crept up his cheeks.

"W-what? Oh my god, dude no. That's...that's not what I meant."

"Then what did you mean?"

"I meant me."

A pause.

Wally suddenly felt extremely uncomfortable. Was it hot out here, or...? Of course, he was there for his friend 100%, but something like this was...a little out of the comfort zone, you know? "You mean... _your_ dick?"

"Yes."

Another pause. Wally composed himself as best he could. He would have laughed, had Robin not been so obviously serious. This was happening, and he couldn't just let his friend suffer. Rob had approached him on something personal, so Wally felt obligated to help, no matter how uncomfortable it made him. What were friends for, after all? He cleared his throat, bracing for the tense conversation to follow.

"...Is there like...a problem with it? Or...?"

"What? What do you - " the Boy Wonder stopped, sudden realization washing over his features. His blush grew a few shades darker, reaching the tips of his ears. "Oh God. Yikes. _Yiiikes_...I can see how that would be confusing. No, not _my_ dick, _I'm_ Dick."

The ginger sagged heavily against the railing to his friend's left, overwhelming relief flooding his senses. He was glad there wasn't anything wrong with Robin's, uh, 'manhood,' but he was about ten times more confused than he had been to begin with. "Dude, what? You're not a dick. Well I mean, I'm sure everyone will be or has been at one point or another, but -"

"Wally, that's not..." Robin stopped, sighing as he took a couple of nervous (do Bats get nervous?) steps back from the pier's edge, a small, exasperated laugh escaping with the air. His hand reached up and spindly fingers pinched the bridge of his nose, massaging away at the beginnings of a headache. "This isn't going quite like I had planned..."

"What do you mean?"

"Well," the younger boy dropped his hand and shuffled his feet sheepishly, his veiled eyes glued to the floor. "I meant to tell you later tonight at your house where we'd have some more privacy, but it felt like the time was right now and...I don't actually know if it is anymore, but now I've started saying it and there's no point in stalling any longer so," the young hero took in a steadying breath before reaching up and tentatively taking off his sunglasses, blinking a couple of times to adjust to the light change.

Wally's entire world came screeching to a halt.

Standing before him was none other than--

"Dick Grayson," Dick Grayson stated. Kind of lamely, if Wally was being honest. Robin's smirk curled Dick's lips up and to the right and, although Wally was loath to admit it yet, it fit underneath bright blue eyes and dark eyebrows better than it ever did with his mask or sunglasses on. "It's uh, it's a pleasure to finally meet you. Or I guess, to have you finally meet me?" He held out his hand awkwardly, as if in a business deal. Wally could do nothing but stare.

He had been waiting for this moment for about a year - ever since Robin had admitted he knew who Kid Flash was. The two had been on a stakeout mission when their light banter suddenly turned personal. Wally had been having a rough time and started talking about his home life when Robin let slip that he already knew. Feeling gypped that Rob already everything but Kid Flash knew nothing, Wally asked who Robin was. Just like everyone else, he was given the spiel on how Robin was forbidden to tell anyone for obvious safety reasons. After all, Gotham is Gotham, not your average city of crime; lives could be ruined, maybe even ended, if a secret like that got out. After a lot of begging, Wally had finally given up hope of actually being told. They joked about it a lot and Wally made many silly guesses and light-hearted deductions, even asking for it as his one and only birthday present, but he had never actually expected to be placated. Yet here they were, staring awkwardly at each other in the light cast from the setting sun on the evening of Wally's birthday, Wally finally getting what he had been wanting for so long.

God, this kid's eyes were so fucking blue...the TV screen just didn't do them justice.

This wasn't what Wally had been expecting.

In all honestly, what _had_ he been expecting? Would he have been less weirded out if Robin was somebody he had never heard of or seen before? Or was he more weirded out by the fact that this kid was literally plastered over the news 24/7 and not a single person suspected - even for a second - that those baby blues were the ones hidden behind the daring Boy Wonder's mask?

The silence was deafening between them. Neither really knew what to say to the other. Wally's mind whirred and clanked, trying to figure out the signs he had missed to not see such an obvious correlation between Robin and his secret ID (I mean, they were never seen in the same place, they both had the same build and hair...that was about all Wally could figure at the moment, but he was sure more similarities were bound to pop up). Dick on the other hand felt exposed, vulnerable, and very, very concerned for the sanity of his friend.

"Uh, Wally?" He retracted his hand, choosing instead to take a couple of hesitant steps toward the older boy, "Are you okay?"

Wally continued to not respond, his gaze seeming to go straight through the mystery of a boy in front of him. Thoughts raced through his mind faster than he could run. If Richard Grayson was Robin, who was Batman? Robin... er... _Dick_ obviously knew the man behind the cowl, so that eliminated a significant chunk of the world's population. No offense to Dick but from what Wally had heard about the young Grayson, it didn't seem like he had very many adults in his life, at least no immediate family. Oh God, his family...his family was...he had watched them...they were...oh _God_. Wally promised he'd come back to that thought later; it was too much to deal with right now.

So then if Batman wasn't immediate family, it had to be someone else. The only other adults in his life - besides all of the rich folk who went to the Wayne Galas with whom Dick probably wasn't close - seemed to be his butler (who had shown his face only a couple of times in the background on TV and seemed too old to be as active as Batman was) and Bruce Wayne himself. Bruce Wayne...the puzzle pieces all seemed to fit...Did that mean Batman was...?

"Wally? Dude? Ground control to Major Tom, come on Wall-man, snap out of it..." Dick pressed, waving his hand frantically in front of the speedster.

Wally's eyes snapped to Dick's face, taking in just how proportionate and clear his features were. Now he knew why the girls at his school gushed about this kid - he really was quite a sight. He knew that, now that he'd seen him without his sunglasses, he'd always subconsciously replace the dark lenses with Dick's eyes. That whole 'what has been seen can't be unseen' sort of shtick.

The younger boy's face was contorted, however, and his eyes flashed with hurt and concern. Wally silently wondered if they did that often. He seriously hoped not.

"Wally, can you hear me?" Dick called.

Wally blinked. "Y-yeah. Yeah, I'm okay...it's just..." he looked at his friend, his best friend, who was suddenly a stranger to him. "Dick Grayson, huh?"

The ebony-haired boy smiled slightly, the sparkle not quite reaching his eyes. Did Dick ever smile with his eyes? He certainly never did on TV. What a sorry existence that would be, to not be able to truly smile. "Yeah," he laughed softly, rubbing his neck self-consciously and looking at the pier's wooden-plank floor. "This...this isn't quite how I'd hoped this would go. I guess I don't really know what I expected, to be honest. It's kind of a disaster, heavy on the 'dis'."

With just that one prefix, that one signature word deconstruction, Wally saw Robin again. He saw the fun-loving prankster he'd grown to call his best friend. It was just a glimpse, hidden in the shadows behind blue eyes and a pretty face and a media lens and wall after wall of protection, but he was in there. Robin was there, just waiting to be found, to be rediscovered. Robin wanted to be known for who he really was: not some toy for the media or a charity case or masked crusader, but as a kid. As himself. And he was breaking down his walls to let Wally see that. Who knew how long it took to build those up, and he was tearing them down for Wally.

He grabbed the Boy Wonder's arm suddenly, silently giving Rob credit for not crying out in surprise.

"We need to talk, dude. I have so many questions. I hope you realize that now that you've told me this, you're gonna tell me every single little thing about your life. I mean it: no leaving any details out - I want to know everything."

Dick nodded, completely serious once again. "Obviously. No more secrets. I promise. Besides, I already know everything about your life - it's high time you learned about mine."

Wally grinned, vaguely shocked that Robin had given in so easily but too excited to care. "C'mon, let's go back to my house. We can talk this out there."

Another nod. "Sounds good to me."

The two started walking back into the city, leaving the festivities of the pier behind them.

"Hey, Dick?" The name rolled off the tongue so easily, Wally couldn't remember a time not knowing it.

"Yeah?"

The older boy swallowed past a lump of emotion in his throat. "This is the best birthday present ever. Thank you."

A smile, a real smile, broke the younger boy's face in two, lighting up his eyes and making the whole world disappear until they were the only two in it. Wally wished it could stay that way forever.

"You're welcome. Happy birthday, Wally."

 *** Dick misheard Wally. He thought he said "you're Dick" as in "you are" instead of "your dick" as in...possessive. Check your contractions, my dude ;)**


End file.
